- Areva TN receives license for its new nuclear waste cask from French and Belgian nuclear safety authorities, company says

French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) and its Belgian counterpart, the AFCN, approved the transport license for the new TN® MW transport cask developed by Areva TN, the French nuclear company Areva announced on Wednesday.

The licenses were approved for the group's subsidiary, Areva TN with expertise in nuclear logistics, at the end of April and the beginning of June 2017 respectively, according to the company's announcement.

According to Areva's press release, the TN® MW cask represents a 3-in-1 solution, as it allows manufacturers to use a single cask for the transportation, storage and final disposal phases, removing the need for interim repackaging and thereby reducing operating costs.

The TN® MW cask can hold a large pallet of low- to high-level liquid or solid waste. This new cask is equally well adapted to technological waste from industrial operations or waste from operations to dismantle nuclear facilities, holding it under the strictest safety conditions, according to the press release.

Its reduced size and weight represent an advantage during handling operations on nuclear sites, the press release said.

The company also announced that Areva TN has just delivered the first of two TN® MW casks, which the Belgian Institute for Radio-elements (IRE) ordered at the end of 2015.

“This approval is an important step forward for our new cask, which is positioned on the growing waste management market. The modularity and competitiveness of the new TN® MW design makes it a cask that is particularly well-suited to the needs of our utility and research institute customers," Frederic de Agostini, chairman and CEO of AREVA TN said in the press release.